In winning five consecutive races on Mister Lennox, Chirac, Rocknroll Turbo, Chenin Valley and Lord Jones, Hillier set a personal driving record.

It bettered the four-win hauls that he has landed “two or three times” during his career.

Hillier was also part of a track record, as Mister Lennox’s time of 1:54.45 while winning the Golden Mile lowered the old mark by more than half a second.

The previous record of 1:55 was set by Mister Lennox’s one-time stablemate Queens Advocate in February last year.

Two of Hillier’s five wins came on horses from his own stable but the others were supplied by three different trainers.

In fact, it’s testimony to his current popularity that he drove in all 10 races on Sunday night for six different stables.

“When you’re winning, you’re in demand … that’s racing,” he said.

Hillier will now turn his attention to winning Tasmania’s equal richest race, the $40,000 Globe Derby final, with Rocknroll Turbo.

The star three-year-old won Sunday night’s prelude after a tight battle with Usain Jolt and Harjeet.

“I think whichever horse gets the right run will probably win the final,” Hillier said.

“”I thought Usain Jolt was the run of the race on Sunday night and Harjeet has the gate speed to make him hard to beat.”

Rocknroll Turbo ran them both down in the home straight after Hillier waited as long as possible to make his move.  

“I wanted to save my horse for the last shot at them because he can knock off a bit,” the driver said.

Rocknroll Turbo has put in only one bad run in his short career and Hillier puts that down to a mental issue.

“He was very piggy – if he didn’t want to do something, he wouldn’t,” the trainer said.

“He’s still got a bit of that in him.”

Hillier said he might take Rocknroll Turbo to Melbourne for the Vicbred series “but he’d have to win the Globe Derby final to even consider it.”

FORMER leading reinsman Scott Ford has been warned off for seven months for driving trackwork without a licence.

Stewards found that Ford drove trackwork at the Brighton training complex on January 27 and March 30.

He pleaded not guilty to the first offence but guilty to the second.

He was warned off for a total of seven months, backdated to May 8.

Ford was in the top two or three drivers in the state in his heyday but has fallen foul of the stewards many times in recent years.

He eventually had his licence revoked and in November he lost an appeal to have it reinstated.

In its decision, the Appeal Board stated that Ford’s record showed he was not capable of complying with the rules.

Trainer Bianca Heenan was fined $750 on two charges of using an unlicensed trackwork driver.